Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The chatter is becoming a roar. With the first baby boomers approaching the legal retirement age and concern mounting over the solvency of Social Security, the first solution on the table is to raise the age even higher.

Republicans such as House Speaker John Boehner, governors Tim Pawlenty (MN) and Mitch Daniels (IN) have expressed support for upping the age to 70. Bush 43 spokeswoman Dana Perrino recently proposed on Fox News phasing in, not affecting anyone now at or near retirement, an increase to age 69. Fox News analyst John Stossel, a staunch libertarian, echoes the same idea as the first solution to saving the program.

Social Security, of course, remains the vaunted third rail of American politics, the crown jewel of Roosevelt-era liberalism. Even conservative-minded Americans consider the program the one saving grace keeping the elderly out of the poor-houses. Like a national institution or memorial, it will be saved come whatever. Just the mere concept is an American value unto itself and we will make it endure, regardless of the costs or the puny payouts or the toll on the American worker.
Get full story here.

We have to get our priorities straight.
When even Cuba, which minus Chinese assistance lacks the technological capability to do so, is looking to drill for oil in the deep waters just 50 miles off the coast of the U.S., but we refuse to do so, clearly the nation is falling behind in the global energy race.

Writing for Politico, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) raises the alarm bells: “We cannot allow this project to move forward.” Buchanan has introduced legislation that would deny oil permits to any company that does business with Cuba.

That’s a start, and if Republicans can force votes in both houses of Congress, the American people may gain some insight into the Obama Administration’s intentions. Is the White House going to block U.S. domestic energy production and then allow the communist thugs in Cuba to do it?

This could be one of the most telling decisions Barack Obama will make. It will show clearly what side he is on.
Get full story here.

February 8th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising a plan by Florida Governor Rick Scott to overhaul the Medicaid and public pensions systems in his state:

“Governor Rick Scott’s proposal to move Medicaid recipients into managed care plans could save as much as $2 billion a year and is a move that warrants consideration by all governors and legislatures across the country. Medicaid spending is already sinking state governments with $60 billion in annual obligations that are set to dramatically rise as temporary federal ‘stimulus’ moneys run out. After that, state Medicaid spending will only rise in the next 10 years. This is a program that must be scaled back if states are to get their fiscal houses in order. Governor Scott is to be applauded for taking this step.

“Governor Scott also plans to put new government employees into a 401(k)-style retirement system and for all government employees to contribute 5 percent of their salaries to retirement. This will likely save another $1.4 billion every year, and give public employees a greater stake in the solvency of their retirement funds. And by transitioning new employees into defined contribution plans, Florida is putting itself on sounder fiscal footing for the coming years. With unfunded pension liabilities for states totaling as much as $3 trillion, phasing out and eventually eliminating defined benefit plans must be at the top of every state’s long-term fiscal planning. There is too much at stake.

“Thanks to these remarkable steps by Governor Scott to slash state spending, he can afford to include in his plan $2 billion in property and corporate tax cuts. These will make it easier for Florida to clear out its excess housing stock, and add new incentives for businesses to set up shop there.

“Taken together, slashing Medicaid spending, reforming the public pension system, and reducing the tax burden are a model for every state in the Union to follow. These are the steps that must be taken to make America competitive again, and to save governments from certain insolvency.”

The New Jersey Department of Education today released the 2010 School Report Cards for all traditional public schools and charter schools in the state. The report cards are accountability documents that are intended to enable members of the public to measure the yearly progress of their schools.

To make valid comparisons, the Department compares similar districts, but the Report Cards include spending only on categories shared by all districts. For example, some districts do not have transportation costs, and so no transportation costs are included in per pupil comparison spending. This Departmental policy, which has been evolving over the past 15 years, is currently under review.

Significant costs that are counted by the National Center for Education Statistics are not counted by the Report Card data. These New Jersey costs include $1.1 billion in transportation spending, $2.2 billion in benefits and pension payments, $500 million for food services, and $700 million in other state and federal funds.

Data on graduation rate has traditionally been self-reported by districts, and the Department has already announced that it will provide new, more accurate state-reviewed data by next year. Any decision to change the way the Department calculates and releases other data will be thoroughly explored before changes are made.

“Transparency and accuracy in providing information about our schools is critical to parents’ ability to select the best school for their children’s needs,’’ said acting Commissioner Chris Cerf. “We need to do a far better job of providing this service.”

The state’s annual report cards contain detailed statistical profiles of every school in the areas of school environment, student information, student performance indicators, staff information, and district and charter financial information.

The report cards, established by legislation in 1995, are produced for all elementary and secondary schools, as well as vocational schools, special education schools, charter schools, and Special Services School Districts.

In addition to being a resource for community members to check the progress of their community’s schools, the report card contains state-level information that is helpful in providing an overview of education in New Jersey. The information in the report card database is also useful for comparing performance among schools in the state so that parents can evaluate whether to look at other educational options.

The report cards released today are the sixteenth to be produced under the 1995 state law that specifies much of the information to be reported and requires its annual distribution. They also represent the 20th time New Jersey has issued reports on its public schools, since the first report cards were distributed in 1989.
Some items of note in the 2010 report card:

The criterion for the student/computer ratio has changed this year. This year’s count was to include only instructional, multimedia-capable computers that have manufacture dates after July1, 2006 and that are available for supervised instruction. Very old computers are limited in their ability to prepare students to use 21st century tools and were not to be included in the ratio.

NJ ASK 3 and 4 that were new last year now show two years of results to compare. The changes to the tests for grades three and four complete the realignment of the state tests with the updated academic standards.

Graduation via the Special Review Assessment (SRA) has been replaced by graduation via the Alternative High School Assessment (AHSA) process.

UPDATED WITH ARTICLE:
The New Yorker article, a profile of Paul Haggis, has been posted onto their website.

Online, Haggis came across an appearance that Davis had made on CNN, in May, 2008. The anchor John Roberts asked Davis about the church’s policy of “disconnection,” in which members are encouraged to separate themselves from friends or family members who criticize Scientology. Davis responded, “There’s no such thing as disconnection as you’re characterizing it. And certainly we have to understand--

“Well, what is disconnection?” Roberts interjected.

“Scientology is a new religion,” Davis continued. “The majority of Scientologists in the world, they’re first generation. So their family members aren’t going to be Scientologists. . . . So, certainly, someone who is a Scientologist is going to respect their family members’ beliefs—”“Well, what is disconnection?” Roberts said again.
“—and we consider family to be a building block of any society, so anything that’s characterized as disconnection or this kind of thing, it’s just not true. There isn’t any such policy.”

In his resignation letter, Haggis said, “We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification—I didn’t have to look any further than my own home.” Haggis reminded Davis that, a few years earlier, his wife had been ordered to disconnect from her parents “because of something absolutely trivial they supposedly did twenty-five years ago when they resigned from the church. . . . Although it caused her terrible personal pain, my wife broke off all contact with them.” Haggis continued, “To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about?”

Haggis forwarded his resignation to more than twenty Scientologist friends, including Anne Archer, John Travolta, and Sky Dayton, the founder of EarthLink. “I felt if I sent it to my friends they’d be as horrified as I was, and they’d ask questions as well,” he says. “That turned out to be largely not the case. They were horrified that I’d send a letter like that.”

Read the full article.ORIGINAL POSTGawker reports that the FBI has been investigating Scientology for human trafficking violations over the course of the past year.

As expected, New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright’s massive profile of ex-Scientologist writer-director Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Crash) contains many interesting revelations about the Church of Scientology and the life of a prominent member. Chief among these is the existence of an ongoing FBI investigation into allegations of abuse by Scientology’s leader David Miscavige, and the enslavement of members of Scientology’s religious order, “Sea Org”. (Recently, former Sea Org members claimed to have been forced to have abortions.)
According to the article, agents from an FBI task force on human trafficking have been interviewing former members of Scientology about abuse in the church since at least December, 2009, and the case remains open.

Read the full Gawker piece here. The New Yorker article appears in just a few hours. Last year I moderated a panel on Scientology’s human tracking abuses in Los Angeles. The full video of that press conference and the media coverage can be seen here. The author of the New Yorker piece was interviewed recently on PBS.

Protesters on Cairo's central Tahrir Square have called for a new push to oust Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, two weeks into their campaign.

Thousands of people still occupy the square but their lines have been gradually pushed back by the army, keen to get traffic moving again.

Talks have achieved little and there is no sign of Mr Mubarak resigning now.

As normal life resumes around them, the protesters risk sliding into irrelevance, a BBC correspondent says.

To try to escalate the situation on the ground, in order to exert more pressure, would almost certainly risk colliding with the army, the one national institution that is widely respected, Jim Muir reports from Cairo.

That is the dilemma now facing the protesters, made all the more acute by their fear that if they stand down now, they may face retribution from a vengeful establishment, our correspondent says.

On Monday, the government announced a pay rise of 15% for public sector workers - some six million employees. Economic losses caused by the protests are estimated at $310m a day.

Inspired by the success of a similar popular uprising in Tunisia, the protesters have sought to dislodge Mr Mubarak after 30 years in power, blaming him for the country's economic problems and accusing his government of corruption and repression.

Nearly 300 people have been killed across Egypt in the unrest which began on 25 January, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) researchers.

'Ready to die'

A correspondent for Britain's Guardian newspaper estimated on Monday evening that there were only about 1,000 protesters left in Tahrir Square.

Wrecked vehicles were being removed from Tahrir Square on Monday The Associated Press news agency reports that the protesters are feeling the strain of camping out, night after night, in the square.

A misty winter drizzle on Saturday made mud of grass areas used to pitch tents.

Food is limited, and scores of the remaining protesters have suffered injuries, with bandaged heads, arms in slings, and crutches a common sight.

Omar Salim, who travelled to Cairo from the northern Sharqiya province and had spent the last four nights sleeping in the square, tried to put a brave face on the miserable conditions.

"The hunger spurs us on," he told AP. "We're in this together, we are all one - that's what keeps us going."

Ahmed Mustafa, a 58-year-old plumber who said his 26-year-old son Islam had been shot dead in front of his eyes on Saturday, said his resolve to see the protest through to the end had only grown.

"This country has no freedom, no plurality of opinion," he said. "What kind of country is it in which a young man of 26 isn't able to marry, to make a family?"

Mr Mustafa said he and his two other adult sons - Karim, 27, and Khaled, 24 - were also ready to pay with their lives to oust the Mubarak government.

"They've come to die like him and I'm ready to go, too," he told AP.

'Branded traitors'

HRW counted 297 victims of the violence, which saw fierce clashes with police, and pitched battles between protesters and Mubarak supporters.

It said it based its count on visits to seven hospitals in the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. No comprehensive death toll has been given by the Egyptian government.

Wael Ghonim, the Google marketing executive who was behind a Facebook page credited with sparking the demonstrations, was freed on Monday after being detained for 11 days.

He said he had not been ill-treated in custody but was shocked to be branded a traitor.

"Anyone with good intentions is the traitor because being evil is the norm," he told a TV channel.

"If I was a traitor, I would have stayed in my villa in the Emirates and made good money and said, like others, 'Let this country go to hell'. But we are not traitors."

The Oprah Winfrey Show may not be the only “Oprah” disappearing this year.

A bill moving through the State Legislature would rename New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, commonly known as OPRA, after the late Martin O’Shea, a longtime journalist and leading advocate for public access to government records.

In addition to providing O’Shea with a much-deserved posthumous honor, the bill and a companion measure would update and strengthen New Jersey’s laws regarding access to government records. The two bills were approved Monday, January 31, by the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee and have been referred to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee for further action.

O’Shea was a retired newspaper editor who had worked for several publications, including The New York Times. Toward the end of his career, he spent time at The News Tribune while I was the paper’s State House correspondent.

His arrival at The News Tribune was a bit unsettling for young reporters like me who were building their reputations and not accustomed to having editors go through their copy with fine-toothed combs.

The words “Martin is looking at your story” were a warning that you were about to be asked questions you might not be able to answer. You also were likely to have to call more people for comments, rework your lead, or make other changes and edits you didn’t expect. In hindsight, however, the words “Martin is looking at your story” also meant your story was going to become a better piece of journalism.

Martin also recognized the value of cultivating sources and building relationships. At a time when most of us regularly produced at least one story a day from our beats, he told me to go to events such as the League of Municipalities Conference and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Walk to Washington – and not worry about filing a single story. In the long run, he told me, the contacts you make and what you hear from talking with people informally will be far more valuable than a 15-inch story about the event.

Years after I left The News Tribune, I reconnected with Martin quite by accident while conducting research on open records for the Hall Institute. He wrote a short piece on the topic for our website, but neither of us made the connection – until after the article was posted – that we had worked together some 20 years earlier.

We stayed in touch, he wrote a few more articles for us, and he kept us informed of his ongoing battles to obtain public records from governments of all shapes and sizes. Sadly, he passed away in 2009 after a long illness.

Normally, I am not a big fan of naming laws after individuals, but the Martin O’Shea Open Public Records Act has a nice ring to it. I’m just curious to see if his name, like OPRA, will become a verb and adjective. Perhaps, we someday will hear people saying “I filed an O’Shea request” or “I O’Shea’d’ that document.” I also have little doubt that, had any such sentences ever come before Martin’s eyes, he would have taken a very sharp editing pencil to them.

# # #

Richard A. Lee is Communications Director of the Hall Institute. A former State House reporter and Deputy Communications Director for the Governor, he also teaches courses in media, politics and government at RutgersUniversity, where he is completing work on a Ph.D. in media studies. Read more of Rich’s columns at richleeonline and follow him on Twitter.

The latest development in the insider trading gate, whose sole target is and has always been SAC, appears to be closing in on the target. According to a press release to be held shortly, two former SAC employees are about to become cooperating witnesses for the government. The ex-SACites are Noah Freeman and Donald Longueuil, which according to Bloomberg worked at the fund between 2008 and 2010. The full conference by US Attorney Preet Bharara is due any moment. This is likely just an intermediate phase before the big names start being accused as bigger cases are built against those at the very top.
From Bloomberg:

Noah Freeman and Donald Longueuil, former employees of SAC Capital Advisors LP according to a person familiar with the matter, were charged as part of a nationwide investigation of insider trading at hedge funds, technology companies and so-called expert networking firms.

Longueuil worked at SAC Capital-unit CR Intrinsic from July 2008 to July 2010 and Freeman worked at SAC Capital from June 2008 to January 2010, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Charges against three hedge fund managers and an analyst were announced today by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan. Counts against two of them are to include obstruction of justice, Bharara said.

Samir Barai was also charged by federal prosecutors in New York, according to court documents. Freeman and Jason Pflaum reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to the filings. Winifred Jiau, already charged as part of the probe, communicated with Barai and Freeman, according to court papers.

Barai, founder of Barai Capital Management, is co- conspirator 1, or “CC1,” in the complaint filed in December against Jiau, an ex-consultant for expert-networking firm Primary Global LLC, according to a person familiar with that case.

A profile of all 4 charged hedge funders is below courtesy of the WSJ:Samir Barai, of Barai Capital Management

Barai in 2008 ordered up purchased of stock in tech companies — including Marvell Technology and Fairchild Semiconductor — after being on the receiving end of their corporate secrets, according to the government charges unsealed today.
Barai in November also told one of his colleagues to destroy “documentary and digital records after reading articles about a federal grand jury investigation into insider trading,” according to the government complaint today.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Barai was an unnamed co-conspirator in a December criminal complaint. Prosecutors said a hedge fund, which the Journal has identified as Barai Capital, received more than $820,000 in May and June 2008 from trading ahead of Marvell’s earnings.
Barai until 2007 ran a tech-stock portfolio at Citigroup’s internal hedge-fund division, and then he left to found his own investment firm. FBI agents raided his hedge fund in November, the Journal reported last month. Samir Barai and other employees of Barai Capital either didn’t respond to requests for comment or declined to comment for last month’s stories in the Journal.

Donald Longeuil
Longeuil, 35 years old, left CR Intrinsic Investors LLC, a division of SAC Capital, about a year ago, the Journal is reporting. The government complaint today says Longeuil destroyed a computer flash drive and external hard drives in November, after reading about an investigation into insider trading.

Jason Pfaum
A technology analyst at Barai Capital Management, Pfaum pleaded guilty on charges of conspiracy and securities fraud and has been cooperating with prosecutors in their insider trading investigation, according to the legal filings today. In 2008, according to the government, Pfaum talked with an employee at Fairchild Semiconductor to glean secrets about the company. Barai then a day later ordered the purchase of about 95,000 Fairchild shares, according to the legal complaint.

Noah Freeman
Freeman worked at hedge fund SAC Capital’s Boston office from 2008 until January 2010, the Journal is reporting. Freeman, whom the government describes as a specialist in the tech and semiconductor industries, “maintained a network of sources who provided Freeman with Inside Information regarding public companies,” including Marvell, Nvidia, Fairchild and Actel, according to the legal filings released today.
Full complaint against Barai and Longueuil:
Barai Complaint

WASHINGTON (February 4, 2011) -- The unemployment rate dropped sharply last month to 9 percent, the lowest level in nearly two years. But the economy generated only 36,000 net new jobs, the fewest in four months.

The January report illustrates how job growth remains the economy's weakest spot, even as other economic indicators point to a recovery that is strengthening.

African-American unemployment remained virtually stagnant going from 15.8 to 15.7 percent and the still high black teen figure actually ticked up from 44.2 to 45.4.

Friday's report offered a conflicting picture on hiring. Unemployment fell because the Labor Department's household survey determined that more than a half-million people without jobs found work. The department conducts a separate survey of businesses, which showed tepid job creation. The two surveys sometimes diverge.

Severe winter weather likely reduced the number of jobs created. Harsh snowstorms last month cut into construction employment, which fell by 32,000, the most since May. Transportation and warehousing also fell by 38,000 - the most in a year.

In one bright spot, manufacturing added 49,000 jobs, the most since August 1998.

The unemployment rate has fallen by eight-tenths of a percentage point in the past two months. That's the steepest two-month drop in nearly 53 years.

But part of that drop has occurred as many of those out of work gave up on their job searches. When unemployed people stop looking for jobs, the government no longer counts them as unemployed.

The number of people unemployed fell by more than 600,000 in January to 13.9 million. That's still about double the total that were out of work before the recession began in December 2007.

The January report also includes the government's annual revisions to the employment data, which showed that fewer jobs were created in 2010 than previously thought. All told, about 950,000 net new jobs were added last year, down from a previous estimate of 1.1 million. The economy lost about 8 million jobs in 2008 and 2009.

In the past three months, the economy generated an average of 83,000 net jobs per month. That's not enough to keep up with population growth

ATLANTA (January 31, 2011) -- Filmmaker Spike Lee joined Education Secretary Arne Duncan in issuing a call Monday for more black men to become teachers, making their plea at the country’s only all-male historically black college.

The two took part in a town hall meeting at Atlanta’s private Morehouse College just a week after President Barack Obama urged more people nationwide to become teachers.

Duncan told an audience that more than 1 million educators are expected to retire in the coming decade and that federal officials are hoping to harness that opportunity to create a more diverse teaching work force, noting that less than 2 percent of the nation’s 3 million teachers are black men.

“Everybody can’t be a business major,” Lee told the auditorium packed with male high school and college students. “We have to educate ourselves. We have to educate our young black men.”

Lee, a Morehouse graduate, said he was influenced most - outside of his own family - by two of his Morehouse professors. Both educators attended Monday’s gathering and were asked to stand up to be honored.

Duncan used the occasion to promote the federal TEACH campaign. The program was launched in the fall to persuade more minorities - particularly males - to enter education. The federal government has launched the teach.gov website, a one-stop-shop for anyone wanting to enter teaching, including professionals hoping to switch careers.

“If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation, if you want to make a difference in the life of a child, become a teacher,” Obama said in a video address taped for Monday’s event. “Our country needs you.”

The Education Department also recorded TV commercials with Oprah Winfrey, performer John Legend and others to talk about the influence of teachers on their lives. Duncan said he will visit Los Angeles next month, seeking to recruit more Hispanics for teaching.

Duncan said that while many school districts are confronting layoffs and tight budgets, there are many high-need areas such as science, mathematics and special education facing a teacher shortage. School districts nationwide hire between 80,000 and 200,000 new teachers each year, even in tough economic times.

Duncan pointed to 8,500 unfilled teaching jobs listed on the teach.gov website as of Monday.

The government is working to help students obtain more financial aid for college and to create loan-forgiveness programs once they graduate and commit to teaching, Duncan said. He urged private organizations to get involved in recruiting minorities to teaching and supporting them once they’re in the classroom.

“The government can’t begin to do this alone,” he said.

Social activist Jeff Johnson is joining the effort. The MSNBC contributor has launched a task force that aims at putting 80,000 more black male teachers in classrooms across the country in the next four years.

Johnson told the audience that being a teacher isn’t considered “cool” in the black community and that perception must change.

“They look at business, engineering and law as professions that will make them better men, but the very profession that determines what the next generation looks like isn’t even on their radar,” Johnson said.

The ceremonial honor, which has sparked some local controversy, was performed at a Super Bowl event in Dallas on Saturday -- the same day the quarterback was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

Mayor Tom Leppert released a statement Monday saying that when Caraway gave Vick a key to the city, the action was "done without [Leppert's] knowledge or approval."

Ahh, Dallas politicians handling things about as well as Tony Romo handling an extra point attempt. Imagine if Mayor Nutter gave Romo the keys to the city of Philadelphia. I'm pretty sure there'd be riots.

Anthony and his wife LaLa want to be in large market with best chance to win a Championship. His preference is the Knicks, but the Lakers should be a viable option and now what was just a rumor before is picking up a little stream.

The Denver Nuggets have had preliminary discussions with the Los Angeles Lakers on a Carmelo Anthony trade, league sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard on Tuesday.

The Lakers’ package would be built around center Andrew Bynum. Denver has no interest in Ron Artest and isn’t particularly interested in Lamar Odom either, sources said. A straight-up deal of Bynum for Anthony works financially, but there could be other players involved since Denver would look to shed more salary if possible.

If I am the Lakers, I would fly Bynum on a private jet to Denver right now. Not that Bynum isn’t a good player but there is a shelf life on his knees.

The fact that Anthony could lessen the scoring burden on Kobe Bryant, would open up the floor for Pau Gasol.

Would you rather have Wade, Bosh and Bron or Kobe, Melo & Gasol?

Plus you would still have Odom, Artest and Fisher. Lakers need to aggressive and make this move and if you wondering how Kobe Bryant would feel sharing the spotlight with another Superstar.

I wouldn’t worry too much about that because Melo and Kobe are very close.

Since 2001, the federal government has been conducting sneak-and-peek searches and warrantless wiretap operations against peaceful, law-abiding Americans thanks to the passage of the USA Patriot Act. These practices violate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, our supreme law of the land, but they proceed regardless.

Very quietly, both houses of the U.S. Congress are positioning themselves to reauthorize provisions of the Patriot Act that are set to expire on February 28. Moves to reauthorize the Patriot Act are likely to be made this week. The House Calendar shows you why:

As you can see, the U.S. House is taking a vacation for two of the four weeks in February, and to ensure that Patriot Act reauthorization happens by February 28, each chamber not only has to pass a bill but also to wait for the other chamber to finish doing the same, to meet in conference committee to reconcile any bill differences, and then to vote on final passage. That process takes time, which means you can be reasonably sure that the House and Senate will make their first votes this week.

It’s too late to write letters to your papers or to your members of Congress. Pick up the phone. Either dial up the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Representative and two Senators, or look up your delegation’s House and Senate numbers and call each office directly.

Let your members of Congress know who you are, where you live, and that you’re following their actions in Congress closely. Ask them to represent your wishes by:

1) Voting against reauthorization of the Patriot Act;2) Insisting upon a full markup process in committee including time for debate;3) Insisting upon full consideration on floor of the House and Senate with an open amendment process and allowance for a complete floor debate.

Any declaration that the Patriot Act must be reauthorized without full consideration is a sham: Congress has had a full year to initiate discussion and generate reforms, and instead has chosen to put off any action until the last minute to generate a false “emergency” that truncates debate. The government’s unfettered searches through and spying on America is a serious subject that, at long last, deserves serious and lengthy discussion, not the sneaky and furtive reauthorization that Congress plans to roll out this week.

If you have any other ideas about what we can do to block Patriot Act reauthorization, or about other activist efforts on the subject already underway, please talk about it right here, right now.

"The previous UK government did "all it could" to help facilitate the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, a report on the case says.

Sir Gus O'Donnell, the country's most senior civil servant, said there was an "underlying desire" to see Megrahi released before he died.

But his report concluded that it was made clear to Libya that the final decision was up to Scottish ministers.

And there was no evidence of Labour pressure on the Holyrood government.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who set up the investigation, said the release had been "profoundly wrong" but added there was no need for a fresh inquiry.

Labour's Gordon Brown, who was in Downing Street when Megrahi was freed in August 2009, said the decision had been made by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill and "no-one else".

This is certainly embarrassing for Labour, but the decision to release Megrahi was taken solely by the Scottish government. It's clear David Cameron wants to improve relations with the United States, and knowing that the prime minister was against Megrahi's release will certainly please the White House.

What has not emerged, however, is a viable secular opposing group that can stop the Brotherhood from dominating a new government. "Obama downplays Muslim Brotherhood," from the McClatchy-Tribune News Service, February 6:

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama described the Muslim Brotherhood as a well-organized group with anti-American rhetoric in an interview on Sunday, but downplayed the group's size and influence in Egypt and its potential to join a new governing coalition.

Obama stressed that nonreligious groups would be important as negotiations in Egypt begin about moving beyond the military regime of President Hosni Mubarak. Educators and civil society groups could be vital participants in democratic governance, he said.

"I think the Muslim Brotherhood is one faction in Egypt," Obama said. They are "well-organized," he said, and "there are strains of the ideology that are anti-U.S."
"It's important for us not to say our only two options are the Muslim Brotherhood or a suppressed Egyptian people," Obama said....

"There is no single way forward," P.J. Crowley, the State Department spokesman, said Sunday. "There are a number of changes that need to take place, but ultimately the future has to be determined by Egyptians." American officials applauded the fact that talks are taking place, with the Muslim Brotherhood taking part...

President Barack Obama is calling for a six-year, $53 billion spending plan for high-speed rail, as he seeks to use infrastructure spending to jumpstart job creation.

An initial $8 billion in spending will be part of the budget plan Obama is set to release Monday. If Congress approves the plan, the money would go toward developing or improving trains that travel up to 250 miles per hour, and connecting existing rail lines to new projects. The White House wouldn’t say where the money for the rest of the program would come from, though it’s likely Obama would seek funding in future budgets or transportation bills.

@liltunechiIts tax time and most of you are sitting around waiting to see if you’ll be getting a refund or have to cough up some extra bread to pay Uncle Sam. In the case of Lil Wayne, that “extra bread” was $1.13 Million dollars. That’s right, that’s how much the alien prince owed in back taxes but instead of setting up a payment plan like you or I would have done for our couple hundred dollar bill, Weezie couldn’t be bothered and instead just payed the entire bill with one check. I would wait until it clears before I’d get excited IRS.

Wayne has had a long history with the tax man including a $977,840 lien placed against him in 2008 and a report he failed to pay any taxes on his One Family Foundation last year.

I’m not really sure what state he files his income tax and each state is obviously different with regard to tax law but assuming this is from his federal return and he’s paying that much in tax you can bet he made a grip last year. Must be nice.

The new statistics, part of a push to realign state standards with college performance, show that only 23 percent of students in New York City graduated ready for college or careers in 2009, not counting special-education students. That is well under half the current graduation rate of 64 percent, a number often promoted by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as evidence that his education policies are working.

And buried in the story is this detail that sent me to the State pdf. file to have a closer look:

The data also cast new doubt on the ability of charter schools to outperform their traditional school peers. Statewide, only 10 percent of students at charters graduated in 2009 at college-ready standards, though 49 percent received diplomas. The state has not yet calculated results for every district and school.

Here's the dope. Note that the State somehow could not figure a way to keep the charter data on the same page with the other school data. Click each chart if you need to enlarge:

We must congratulate Meryl Tisch and the corporate foundations running the State education enterprise for coming up with a novel term for the "poor." The new preferred term by the oligarchs: "high need." And the "low need?" Not to worry--they already have it all.

Harvey is now asking a judge to temporarily lift a gag order so he can clear the air about Mary’s accusations.

According to court papers filed to remove the gag order, Steve Harvey doled out $40,000 a month to his ex-spouse until March 2009, and then paid her a lump sum of $1.5 million.

Additionally, despite her claim that she has nowhere to live, Harvey’s court papers say he gave her three homes.

And about her allegation that her ex-husband “took” Wynton away from her, the “Family Feud” host says he has primary custody of his son who “Mary Harvey willingly put on an airplane to his father.”
Who do you believe?

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